Large publishing companies have been dominating scientific publishing for long, which leads to high subscription fees and inhibited access to scientific knowledge. At digital era, the opportunity of ...an unrestricted access appears feasible, because the cost of publishing should be low. It is no longer the readers and libraries to pay subscription fees, but scientific organizations and authors themselves who pay for the cost of having their article published. As the data shows, there is a tremendous variance of article processing charges (APC) across journals, which obviously cannot be explained by the costs. One of the explanatory variables could be reputation, but it only contributes less than 5% to the variance in average APC. This study is meant to shed light on the various determinants of APC. Based on the data from the OpenAPC Initiative, the Directory of Open Access Journals and three different datasets of Web of Science, we employ ANOVAs and multivariate regressions. The results show that market power plays an important role to explain APC, inter alia, through market concentration, market position of individual publishers (publisher size), and the choice of hybrid publishing model.
Deficiency of TOM5, a mitochondrial protein, causes organizing pneumonia (OP) in mice. The clinical significance and mechanisms of TOM5 in the pathogenesis of OP remain elusive. We demonstrated that ...TOM5 was significantly increased in the lung tissues of OP patients, which was positively correlated with the collagen deposition. In a bleomycin-induced murine model of chronic OP, increased TOM5 was in line with lung fibrosis. In vitro, TOM5 regulated the mitochondrial membrane potential in alveolar epithelial cells. TOM5 reduced the proportion of early apoptotic cells and promoted cell proliferation. Our study shed light on the roles of TOM5 in OP.
Chinese national guidelines recommend various systemic therapies for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but optimal treatment selection remains uncertain. To summarize the ...evidence supporting the systemic treatment of Chinese patients with advanced HCC, we performed a systematic review using a literature search of PubMed, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and the Chinese Scientific Journal Database between 1 January 2009 and 15 June 2021, and abstracts from ASCO 2020, ASCO GI 2021, ESMO 2020, and ESMO GI 2020. The inclusion criteria were: Chinese patients aged ≥18 years with advanced HCC; first- or second-line systemic therapy; an evaluation of the efficacy or safety outcomes; and a randomized controlled, non-randomized controlled, prospective, or retrospective design. Thirty reports were identified for the following therapies: the single-agent tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI;
= 10), single-agent programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibitor (
= 4), chemotherapy (
= 5), PD-1/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor plus TKI (
= 6), PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor plus bevacizumab or biosimilar (
= 4), and PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor plus chemotherapy (
= 1). The heterogeneity between the studies precluded statistical analysis and the data were summarized using tables. In the first-line setting, evidence supported the use of atezolizumab or sintilimab plus bevacizumab or a biosimilar. There remains insufficient evidence to determine the optimal approved TKI-based therapeutic option, and active controlled trials in the second-line setting were lacking.
Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), as the activated stroma cells, contribute to tumor progression via the release of cytokines, growth factors, and hormones. However, neither the factors produced ...by CAFs nor the molecular mechanisms were illuminated very well in gastric cancer (GC).
Immunohistochemical staining of alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) was applied to examine the number of CAFs in GC samples from 227 patients. ELISA and qRT-PCR were performed to detect the expression of interleukin 17a (IL-17a). The migration and invasion of GC cells were determined by the Transwell assay. The expressions of JAK2, STAT3, MMP-2, MMP-9, TIMP-1, and TIMP-2 were measured by western blotting. IL-17a was blocked with a polyclonal antibody, and JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway was blocked by a specific inhibitor AG490.
High CAFs in GC tissues were positively correlated with advanced TNM stage and perineural invasion. Furthermore, GC patients with high CAFs in tumor tissues had an obvious worse disease-free survival (DFS) and disease-special survival (DSS). Multivariate analysis showed that high CAFs in GC tissues were an independent risk factor for DFS and DSS. CAFs expressed IL-17a significantly after GC cell co-culture. CAFs markedly enhanced the migration and invasion abilities of AGS and SGC-7901 cells. Moreover, CAFs co-culture resulted in increased levels of MMP2/9, reduced expressions of TIMP1/2, and activation of the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway in the GC cells. IL-17a neutralizing antibody or JAK2 inhibitor AG490 can significantly inhibit the effects of CAFs on the migration, invasion, MMP2/9, TIMP1/2, and JAK2/STAT3 pathways of GC cells.
CAFs correlated with unfavorable clinical features and poor prognosis of GC patients. CAFs secreted IL-17a, which promoted the migration and invasion of GC cells through activating JAK2/STAT3 signaling. These results may identify IL-17a as a promising prognostic marker and therapeutic target of GC.
To improve the detection sensitivity of neomycin (NEO) in milk, we produced a sensitive monoclonal antibody (mAb) against NEO and developed a lateral flow immunoassay based on amorphous carbon ...nanoparticles (ACNPs-LFA). First, we conjugated NEO to carrier protein to prepare mAbs. We obtained six mAbs: mAb 1C6, mAb 1D3, mAb 2D3, mAb 4D5, mAb 5D1, and mAb 5H1. We characterised the mAbs by indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and selected the most sensitive mAb based on the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC
50
). We selected mAb 4D5 (IC
50
= 0.15 ng/mL) for the development of LFA. MAb 4D5 was labelled with ACNPs (ACNPs-mAb 4D5) by electrostatic absorption. Under optimised conditions, 5.4 μg mAb 4D5 coupling with 1 mL ACNPs, NEO-OVA at concentration of 80 μg/mL, 3 μL ACNPs-mAb 4D5 were used to develop LFA. The cut-off value was 8 ng/mL. Therefore, our developed ACNPs-LFA is suitable for on-site detection of NEO residues.
The paper applies modern industrial economic theories to give an overview of the emerging phenomenon of digital personal assistants (DPAs). A DPA is an automated system that serves personal usage ...only and interacts with the user in natural language, meanwhile applying original and third-party services to obtain information and perform various actions. We analyze the economic benefits of increasing usage of DPAs, such as reduction of transaction costs, procompetitive effects, and boosting the e-commerce economy. Besides benefits, however, adopting DPA in life may also contain some risks and downsides, which may reduce the positive welfare effects or even lead to decreasing welfare: biased services, market power on the DPA market and economic dependence on a dominant DPA, potential leveraging of DPA suppliers’ market power into neighboring markets, personalized data (ab)use and privacy, media bias and manipulation of public opinion, and loss of autonomy. We identify the degree of effective competition and the degree of rationality of consumer behavior as the most relevant factors for either the advantages or the disadvantages to prevail and derive first regulatory implications.
This study aimed to explore the feasibility and safety of the tunnel approach in laparoscopic radical right hemicolectomy for colon cancer.
From July 2016 to October 2018, a total of 106 consecutive ...patients with colon cancer who underwent laparoscopic radical right hemicolectomy at the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University were enrolled. The patients were stratified into either a tunnel approach (TA) (n = 56) group or traditional medial approach (MA) (n = 50) group according to the surgical technique performed. The baseline demographics, perioperative outcomes and oncologic outcomes were compared between the two groups.
The baseline characteristics did not differ between groups. The TA group had significantly less blood loss 20.0 (10.0-40.0) vs. 100 (100.0-150.0) ml, p < 0.001 and a shorter operation time 128.4 ± 16.7 vs. 145.6 ± 20.3 min, p < 0.001 than the MA group. The time to first flatus and postoperative hospital stay were similar 3.0 (2.0-4.0) vs. 3.0 (3-4.0) days, p = 0.329; 10.4 ± 2.6 vs. 10.7 ± 3.0 days, p = 0.506 between the two groups. The conversion to laparotomy and complication rates were similar between groups (0 vs. 6.0%, p = 0.203; 14.3% vs. 18.0%, p = 0.603, respectively). No treatment-related deaths occurred in either group. The TA group did not have significantly better survival outcomes than the MA group (p = 0.372).
The TA seems to allow for more favourable results in terms of blood loss and operative time than the MA, with similar results regarding time to first flatus, hospital stay, postoperative complication rate, conversion rate and oncologic outcomes; moreover, the TA is easier for beginners to master.
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